Last updated: September 2026 | Reviewed by: AppFixGuide Zoom Team | Read time: 6 minutes
Changing your Zoom display name should be a thirty-second task, but a surprising number of users find it either doesn’t save, or reverts back to an old name the next time they join a meeting. This almost always comes down to Zoom pulling your name from a different source than the one you just edited.
Quick Answer
Your Zoom display name reverting usually means you edited it in the wrong place — for example, in your local meeting settings instead of your Zoom account profile, or vice versa. If you join meetings through an organization’s SSO or a synced work account, your name may also be centrally managed and overridden automatically. Editing your name in the correct account-level setting fixes this for most users.
Why Your Display Name Won’t Update
1. Editing the Wrong Name Field
Zoom actually has two separate places where a name can be set: your account profile name (tied to your Zoom login) and a per-meeting display name you can set right before joining. Changing one doesn’t automatically update the other, which is the single most common cause of a name that “keeps reverting.”
2. Signed In With SSO or a Managed Work Account
If your organization manages your Zoom account through Single Sign-On (SSO) or Azure/Google Workspace integration, your display name may be pulled directly from your company directory. In that case, editing it inside Zoom itself won’t stick, because the directory record overrides it every time you sign in.
3. Cached Name in the Desktop App
The Zoom desktop app caches your profile information locally. If you updated your name on the Zoom website but haven’t fully restarted the desktop app (not just signed out and back in), it can keep showing the old cached name for a while.
4. Different Name on Mobile vs. Desktop
If you’re signed into the same Zoom account on both a phone and a computer, but set your display name differently on each without realizing they’re the same account, you may see inconsistent results depending on which device you join a meeting from.
Step-by-Step Fix
Step 1: Update Your Name on the Zoom Website
- Go to zoom.us and sign in.
- Click “Profile” in the left sidebar.
- Click “Edit” next to your name and enter your correct first and last name.
- Save the change.
Step 2: Fully Restart the Desktop App
Sign out of the Zoom desktop app completely, quit it (not just close the window), then reopen and sign back in. This forces the app to pull your updated profile name from the server instead of using a cached version.
Step 3: Check the Per-Meeting Name Field
When joining a meeting via a link, Zoom sometimes shows a “Your Name” field before you enter — if you’re not signed into an account, whatever you type there is used just for that meeting and won’t update your account profile.
Step 4: Ask Your IT Admin About SSO-Managed Names (Work Accounts)
If you sign into Zoom through your company’s SSO and your name still won’t change after Steps 1–2, your display name is likely being pulled from your organization’s directory (Active Directory, Azure AD, or similar) rather than Zoom’s own profile settings, and needs to be updated there instead.
Step 5: Check for a Renamed Display in the Meeting Itself
Once inside a meeting, you can also right-click your own video tile and select “Rename” for a one-time change just for that specific meeting, which can be a useful workaround if the account-level fix isn’t available to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my name show correctly on my phone but not my laptop?
This usually points to a caching issue in the desktop app (Step 2) rather than an account-level problem, since your account name is shared across devices once it’s actually updated.
Can I set a nickname instead of my real name?
Yes, for personal Zoom accounts you can set any display name you like in your profile. Organization-managed accounts may restrict this depending on their admin settings.
Does renaming myself in a meeting change it permanently?
No — renaming yourself inside a specific meeting (Step 5) is temporary and only applies to that session. It won’t affect your account-level display name for future meetings.
About This Guide
This guide was compiled by the AppFixGuide Zoom team based on testing with personal Zoom accounts and organization-managed SSO accounts.